from CAPM -a blog for CPSM wannabes

3-B-4 Develop/implement/maintain database

April 30, 2011

This section is about the database or simply data angles of the supply management profession. You are expected to understand and think about : What kind of data I must collect with respect to the entire supply cycle?

Start by thinking about the process that a user places a requirement, you seek out suppliers, go through a selection process, negotiate, award an order and create a contract,the supplier delivers and payment is made. Over time if you track the data you can understand and analyse the kinds of user requirements that you get, how long is your user indent to supply cycle for each type of commodity,how do suppliers perform on key points like quality and timeliness.

The easy part of this process is that your organization already has systems in place from comprehensive ERP solutions like SAP or Oracle or your organization might have a mix of systems including manual paper files, excel sheets and custom software. Start with thinking around why each data is being collected and what kind of leadership is possible if you were to analyse this data. As you move to thinking strategically and as a leader you realize that you can do more with the data you have and perhaps you need to collect additional data or just clean messy data. A good example is the clean vendor master problem.

Once you are able to appreciate the operations of the data cycle as above think about the legal environment and legal requirements that you must adhere to on the data front. The first section ( also a bridge exam section) alerts the supply leader to SOX requirements dealt with in more detail in the 3-B-5 section,Corporate Social Responsibility including Green issues and Supplier Diversity. For example, if your company has a supplier diversity initiative in place you need to have data about how you tried to encourage diverse suppliers, how many bidded, how many were awarded and how they performed and developed.

In other words this section is about the operational purpose of data you collect, the strategic use you can make of such data and the legal and social responsibility goals of the data. At the end you must collect and keep the data that is required to measure progress to your supply management goals. Remember "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it" as Drucker put it.